Andrew Meldrum

Andrew Meldrum is GlobalPost Senior Editor and Regional Editor for Africa. Meldrum brings his extraordinary depth of experience to GlobalPost coverage of a region that is vastly under-covered by...

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Andrew Meldrum's Notebook:

October 31, 2009 11:58 ET

Nelson Mandela withdraws from public life

First the good news: Nelson Mandela is in reasonably good health for someone who is 91.

So the bad news is not so bad: Mandela — the icon of African liberation — will withdraw almost entirely from public life in order to rest and spend time with his family.

The announcement by the Nelson Mandela Foundation was made to squelch speculation that Mandela was gravely ill.

"Don't call me, I will call you," quipped South Africa’s first black president when he formally retired five years ago, but Mandela is in such demand and he supports so many causes that he continued to attend political rallies, meet dignitaries and celebrities visiting South Africa. Mandela has appeared increasingly frail, needing assistance to walk and sometimes appearing a bit confused.

Now Mandela has "decided to cut back his engagements even further and spend more time with his family," said Professor Jakes Gerwel, chairman of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The statement came after a week of rumors in South African political and media circles that the anti-apartheid leader was in hospital and possibly near death.

Nelson Mandela and Hillary Clinton

Former South African president Nelson Mandela and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton share a joke as she visits the Nelson Mandela foundation in Johannesburg, August 7, 2009. (Denis Farrell/Reuters)

 

The sensitive subject is rarely discussed openly, although occasional controversies erupt around the plans for his funeral and the local and international TV coverage it will attract.

The Mandela Foundation took the unusual step of issuing a rebuttal of the reports Friday.

"There has been a great deal of speculation recently about the state of Mr Mandela's health, to the extent where rumors have even been spread that he is extremely ill," Gerwel said in a statement released by the foundation. "The fact is that Mr Mandela is as well as anyone can expect of someone who is 91 years old and who has lived an active and demanding life as he has. He obviously needs to rest more than he has in the past, and indeed to do the things that he enjoys in his well-deserved retirement."

Gerwel added that Mandela has always been transparent about his health, for example by making a public announcement in 2001 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

"People everywhere can therefore be assured that Mr Mandela and his family will continue this trend and will keep the public informed should there be any significant deterioration in his health. In the meantime, we appeal to all concerned to respect Mr Mandela's privacy and that of his family. The endless speculation often leads to intrusive questioning of those around him," said Gerwel.

Further confirmation of Mandela's well-being came from his grandson who said he had breakfast with the former president and there was no cause for alarm. "I've been with my grandfather this morning," said Mandla Zwelivelile Mandela to South Africa's Mail and Guardian Online. "There is nothing wrong with him." He added: "The old man is elderly now and has routine check-ups — and people get excited about it."

The foundation, which protects Mandela's name and schedule, this week chastised Hollywood star Charlize Theron after she reportedly auctioned off a meeting with him at a charity event. Theron sold a trip to the 2010 World Cup, a meeting with Mandela and a kiss from her for $140,000 to a female bidder in San Francisco. The foundation said: "A very strict process needs to followed to get a meeting with Mandela. Not even the charity foundations Mandela himself established are allowed to auction off time with him."
 

October 29, 2009 10:07 ET

Zimbabwe back on brink

Zimbabwe is on the brink of sliding back into the violence that marred the country following its elections last year, according to a bulletin issued by Amnesty International.

To avert a return to political violence, Amnesty calls on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) foreign ministers — who are visiting Zimbawe Thursday to assess the eight-month old power-sharing government — to also pay attention to the rapidly worsening human rights situation.

In recent weeks several civic leaders have been arrested and there are reports of harassment and intimidation of political opponents of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

Amnesty's stark warning comes a day after the Mugabe government detained and deported the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, Michael Nowak, who was coming to investigate well-documented allegations of systematic state torture. Nowak had been invited by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. At the last minute Mugabe blocked the visit, showing yet again that he is calling the shots in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's Lawyers for Human Rights and the Law Society of Zimbabwe have also warned of a worsening climate in the country and an unfair application of the law.

 

 

 

October 28, 2009 17:11 ET

Zimbabwe detains UN torture expert

President Robert Mugabe's government has detained a United Nations expert on torture, preventing him from carrying out an investigation into widespread charges of systematic state violence against the opposition.

The detention of the U.N.'s special rapporteur on torture, Michael Nowak, comes amid a new wave of arrests, intimidation and allegations of state-sponsored violence.

The Zimbabwe government had earlier invited the United Nations to investigate the reports of torture from October 28 to November 4. But this week the government revoked its decision. Nowak, an Austrian academic, proceeded on the planned visit but was detained at Harare airport Wednesday by security agents. It is expected Nowak will be deported to South Africa Thursday.

The Mugabe government's action to prevent the U.N. investigation is a setback to human rights groups that have made well-documented accusations of systematic state torture of supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

This week the MDC has made fresh allegation of a new round of arrests of its members and intimidation and violence. It comes after MDC leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and other MDC members refused to attend cabinet meetings, following the harassment of MDC treasurer Roy Bennett and other MDC members. The actions have threatened the fragile power-sharing government in which Mugabe is president and Tsvangirai is prime minister. But Mugabe has retained the lion's share of power and has continued to harass Tsvangirai and the rest of the MDC, according to lawyers and other civic leaders.  

 

 

October 26, 2009 13:22 ET

Madonna breaks ground in Malawi

Madonna broke ground Monday in Malawi to start building a girls' academy which she called a "gift" to the country where she had adopted two children.

The pop star, 51, cut a cake, planted a tree and dug a shovel into the earth where the school will be built, at an estimated cost of $15 million. Madonna's daughter, Lourdes, 13, and about 500 Malawians attended the ceremony on the outskirts of Malawi's capital, Lilongwe. It will take two years to build the school.

Raising Malawi Girls Academy will be a "leadership institution to prepare future women leaders" with 500 boarders, including at least two impoverished girls from each of the country's 28 districts, according to a pamphlet issued at the groundbreaking. The school will "focus on mathematics and science which traditionally have failed in Malawi and elsewhere," said the brochure. The school appears to be similar to Oprah Winfrey's leadership academy for girls in South Africa.

In 2006 Madonna adopted a baby boy, David Banda, who is now 3 years old. She returned to Malawi this year and adopted an infant girl, Mercy James. Madonna's Raising Malawi charity also supports local charities to help children with HIV/AIDS.

 

 

 

October 20, 2009 20:35 ET

South Africa's white farmers lease land in Congo

South Africa’s white farmers are to rent nearly 500,000 acres of land from the Republic of Congo, according to an agreement signed late Tuesday.

Congo's agriculture minister said the lease is for 30 years. He said  the South African farmers would bring expertise to the Congo and reduce its dependence on imports.

The South African farmers' union Agri SA, which signed the deal, said its members are looking to farm so far away because the land policies of the African National Congress government are forcing white farmers to seek land abroad.

The ANC is seeking to transfer some farms, overwhelmingly white-owned, to the black majority population.

The South African farmers will lease the land in Congo for 30 years to produce food and fiber, mainly for Congo’s domestic market.

Congolese officials say the land is made up of abandoned farms that the state used to operate.
Agri SA says that nearly 2,000 farmers have expressed interest in going to Congo — most as an expansion of their South African operations.

The new deal is part of trend across Africa where governments are leasing land to foreigners to boost agricultural production. Zimbabwe’s expropriated white farmers have gone to Mozambique, Zambia and Nigeria, with mixed success. The Chinese government has also leased large swathes of land in other African countries. This latest deal between the Republic of Congo and South African farmers is thought to be the biggest of its kind.